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Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now on PC, but first was released a year ago on consoles. It’s a prequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, a game which I played only briefly via Playstation Now on a trial, a few years back, but just couldn’t get into as it seemed slow and overly story-based… so why am I playing this new game now it’s out on PC?
Well, in the intervening years, I’ve got more into such games, such as Quantic Dream’s Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain, and have really enjoyed both of those, so now’s the time to give the Wild West another crack. Can it lasso me in at a second attempt?
Well, the TL:DR is that you are Arthur Morgan, you’re a member of Dutch’s gang, and you have a beef with the O’Driscoll family, and now I have entered this world, I never want to leave. I feel like I’m in ‘Westworld: The Game‘, and that’s for the film and the first series, and not any episodes that followed. I bailed early on in series 2 because it changed tack completely from what we know and love about the concept.
The first thing you must know is that the storyline isn’t the least bit linear, in that after chapter 1, you can branch out into a great number of combinations of missions as Fandom shows, since there are multiple story branches. I thought it would only take me down one path, but I found myself completing the first mission in each branch, before picking and choosing which to do next, although I generally just went for the nearest mission to where I last finished one, as it’s easier.
How Long To Beat is also a good website to check, and as they confirm, the main story is a staggering 46.5 Hours, whilst to complete every last bit takes almost an entire week without sleep, at 156 Hours.
Plus, as you’ll know with the Grand Theft Auto series, you’re not led by the nose in terms of being told what to do, as you traverse to one of a number of different missions starting them when you wish.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a good game to play as the nights draw in – since the skies are soon made dark by the deep snow flurries. In fact, it has a superb world just to get stuck into and soak up the atmosphere, plus a very complimentary soundtrack, and an engaging script with some great humour in there, such as when you capture an O’Driscoll, who claims you have him mixed up with someone else:
- Arthur: “What’s your name, boy?”
O’Driscoll: “Oh, I don’t know”
Arthur: “You don’t know your name?!”
O’Driscoll: “It’s Kieran Duffy”
Arthur: “Well, I ain’t gonna lie to you. Today’s a real bad day for you, Kieran Duffy”
O’Driscoll: “Where are you taking me?”
Arthur: “Somewhere you ain’t gonna like(!)”
O’Driscoll: “Why, what are you gonna do to me?”
Arthur: “SomeTHING you ain’t gonna like(!) So, I’d advise you to save your breath for screaming…”
On the downside, there are a few graphics glitches such as when I bought a horse in the stable and the walls rather disappeared. This past week, I know nVidia have released the latest drivers (441.20) and I have a GTX980, but I’m wary of trying those since some people say it has fixed some things, whereas others say it just borks things, so… I’ll wait until they iron things out.
Similarly, I understand this game had a number of issues on release which stopped some people from playing it at all. For me, I didn’t get chance to start until the weekend following release, and so by the time I had begun, I didn’t come across any issues at all. Either way, I don’t want to stop my Wild West trail…
Also, there’s no multi-channel surround sound which is very disappointing, since not only was it present in every Grand Theft Auto 3D game since that format began, but also it would’ve sounded incredible when you’re caught in a snowstorm. Patch, please, Rockstar?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Important info:
- Developer: Rockstar Studios
- Publisher: Rockstar Games
- Players: single-player, multiplayer
My rig:
- Intel i7 Six Core Processor i7-5820K (3.3GHz) 15MB Cache
ASUS® X99-A: ATX, HSW-E CPU, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s Motherboard
16Gb Kingston Hyper-X Fury DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 8GB)
4GB nVidia GeForce GTX 980
250Gb Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540Mb/sR | 520Mb/sW)
3Tb 3.5″ SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200rpm 64Mb cache
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
CORSAIR 750W CS Series Modular 80 Plus ® Gold, Ultra Quiet
Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 PCI-E Soundcard – OEM
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1
Zalman Z11 Plus Black Mid Tower Case
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
9 10 9 10 |
| OVERALL | 9.5 |
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.